Purusha and Prakriti: A Samkhya Philosophical Perspective on David Grossman’s A Horse Walks into a Bar

Abstract

This article interprets David Grossman’s A Horse Walks into a Bar (2016) through the Samkhya concepts of Purusha and Prakriti. Samkhya, an ancient Indian philosophical system, defines Purusha as pure, passive consciousness and Prakriti as the material principle made up of the three gunas: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. The study examines how these concepts illuminate Dovaleh Greenstein's character, since the character's consciousness, body, emotions, actions, and relationship with the audience show the interaction between Purusha and Prakriti. The analysis studies Dovaleh’s experiences through the distinction between Purusha as witnessing consciousness and Prakriti as the domain of mental, bodily, and emotional activity, including the audience’s responses. His wisdom reflects Sattva, his energetic, restless stage performance shows Rajas, and his experiences of trauma and suffering reveal the consequences of identifying with the material world. The study argues that Dovaleh’s suffering intensifies through identification with his body, emotions, and remembered experiences, particularly following the death of a family member. Thus, Samkhya provides a philosophical structure for understanding Dovaleh’s fractured identity, psychological suffering, and struggle between consciousness and experience. Using comparative close reading, the study also examines Avishai Lazar’s mediation of Dovaleh’s performance. Purusha is treated as a philosophical point of comparison, not as Dovaleh’s personality or an agent controlling his body. The reading distinguishes psychic resilience from liberation and does not claim that Grossman intentionally adopts Samkhya.